Nats rife with missteps backward

Nobody complained about baseball in the nation's capital until a team actually arrived, five years and 399 losses ago.

The years that RFK Stadium sat empty, after the Washington Senators fled to Texas behind cash-starved owner Bob Short, aren't looking so bad now, are they?

Despite arriving from Montreal with the baseball-crazed George W. Bush in the White House, with taxpayers building a delightful ballpark within walking distance of the monuments, the Nationals are managing to take a step backward from the Senators.

They were all wet on Wednesday night, both literally and figuratively.

On the first potentially historic occasion since the District of Columbia landed its third Major League Baseball franchise -- the original Senators, the ones with Walter Johnson and a real history, left for Minnesota in 1961 -- Randy Johnson was forced to sit through a 3-hour, 40-minute rain delay before having his attempt at victory No. 300 rained out.

Nationals President Stan Kasten was determined to start the game, even if it took until midnight. A violent storm did a little "Caddyshack" number on Nationals Park about game time and was followed by a second before the teams could get on the field, but Kasten kept the crowd sitting tight until Jeff Kellogg's umpiring crew convinced him the field was unplayable.

Johnson will try again at 3:35 p.m. Thursday, in the first game of a doubleheader. Thursday's games are threatened by another problematic forecast. Should the doubleheader not be played, Johnson's chance to become the 24th 300-game winner would have to hold until Friday night, when the San Francisco Giants open a four-game series in Florida.

It would be great to know what the 45-year-old Johnson was thinking while he sat in the finely appointed visiting clubhouse with his teammates.

He has been known for surliness at times during his career. But San Francisco teammate Aaron Rowand paints a different picture, suggesting Johnson could sit serenely through such a delay, discussing politics and pop culture while waiting for his shot at reaching a sacred milestone.

"People have the wrong idea about Randy," Rowand said. "He's all business on the field, real intense with everything he does, but there are a lot of times he's down-to-earth, a regular guy. We talk about a lot of things other than baseball."

"He has made a definite impact," Bochy said. "He talks pitching with the younger guys a lot. He has been through it all -- dealing with not getting run support, those kind of things. They listen when he talks."

Johnson's wicked assortment of pitches -- the ones responsible for him joining Nolan Ryan as the only pitchers ever to have six 300-strikeout seasons -- long has been a popular topic of conversation among big-leaguers. It was about all anyone wanted to talk about Wednesday.

One day the Nationals might have an intimidator of their own.

Because they lost 102 games a year ago, they will pick first in next Tuesday's amateur draft. Scouts have raved for two years about San Diego State right-hander Stephen Strasburg, who is considered the best pitching prospect since Mark Prior came out of USC.

There's almost no question the Nationals will draft him. Although their history of gaffes and minimal spending does raise questions about whether they will meet agent Scott Boras' demands, rumored to be more than $20 million.

That's an astronomical figure to expect from any team, much less one that failed to sign its first-rounder a year ago. University of Missouri product Aaron Crow has gone back into the draft after failing to reach agreement with the Nationals, who tried to stare down his agents.

What's going to happen this time around?

Based on the Nationals' track record, it's going to be something. My guess is that the Nats' scouting director will suffer brain lock and announce that he is taking Crow -- again -- with the first overall pick instead of Strasburg. Or maybe they will draft Strasburg and manage not to sign him.